Application of magnetic nanoparticles in petroleum industry: A review

Due to the exclusive size effect, magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) exhibit unique chemical, mechanical and considerably different magnetic properties compared with conventional micro and macro materials. Therefore, MNPs are of great significance and interest in biology, medicine and engineering. Recently, MNPs are also found to show great potential in petroleum industry applications, such as targeted adsorption, remote detection, directional transport and local heating. For these specific applications, the dispersity and stability of the MNPs in suspension are of great importance. Although some works have overviewed the use of nanotechnology for oil production, there is no review focusing on the application of MNPs in petroleum industry to date. Thus, recent progress and future developments in this field require for a work to summarize. This review provides an overview on the applications of the MNPs in petroleum industry, including drilling and completion improvement, magnetic separation, reservoir sensing and imaging, enhanced oil recovery, heavy oil recovery, flow assurance and conformance control. The physiochemical properties of MNPs, such as size, surface and magnetic properties, are also introduced. Finally, the main challenges and opportunities regarding the application of the MNPs in this research field are discussed.